Part of v2.6.2 · Chapter 4: Content & Growth
Contextual NavigationBack to the Journey: Contextual Navigation
Content lives in silos. The changelog shows what changed. The journey tells why. Blog posts explain how. But users don't think in silos—they follow threads.
The Navigation Problem
Before this update, navigation was one-way:
- Changelog → Blog (via "Read the story" button)
- Blog → nowhere (dead end)
- Journey → nowhere (no blog links)
A user reading about v2.6.1's click-to-skip feature had no way to return to see it in context of the broader journey. They'd have to manually navigate back, find the right tab, scroll to the right section.
That's friction. Unnecessary friction.
The Solution: Bidirectional Links
Now every blog post with a version shows a "Back to the Journey" link. Click it, and you're taken directly to the Journey tab with:
- The chapter auto-expanded
- The specific milestone highlighted with a pulsing animation
- Smooth scroll to the right position
The journey now shows "Read the story" links for any milestone that has a related blog post.
Implementation Details
The highlight system uses URL parameters:
/portfolio/site-evolution/?tab=journey&highlight=v2.6.1
When the Journey component detects a highlight parameter:
- Skip the streaming animation (instant load)
- Find the chapter containing that version
- Expand it and scroll into view
- Apply a highlight animation to the matching milestone
Hero Images and Thumbnails
Blog posts can now have hero images displayed at the top. The blog listing shows thumbnails for posts that have images—making the list more scannable and visually engaging.
The hero image for this post? A nod to "Back to the Future"—because navigating between past versions and present documentation felt like time travel.
The Pattern
This is a recurring theme: reduce cognitive load by connecting related content. Users shouldn't have to remember where they saw something or manually navigate between views. The system should maintain context for them.
Every link should answer: "Where did I come from, and where can I go next?"